India’s Zoho is pitching Arattai as a secure homegrown alternative to WhatsApp.
India’s Zoho is positioning its Arattai Messenger as a homegrown rival to WhatsApp, the country’s dominant chat platform with over 500 million users. Arattai, which means “casual chat” in Tamil, supports text, voice and video calls, stories, and channels, offering a familiar interface for everyday communication.
The app has recently seen a surge in downloads after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged citizens to try Arattai, calling it a secure Indian alternative. Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu confirmed the platform experienced a 100-fold increase in sign-ups, prompting urgent infrastructure upgrades.
Arattai emphasizes privacy, pledging not to monetise personal data, and already provides end-to-end encryption for calls. However, full encryption for messages—a key WhatsApp feature—is still under development.
Analysts say the app’s patriotic appeal and government backing give it momentum, but WhatsApp’s entrenched user base makes displacement unlikely in the short term.